Medical Mart convention center 'topped out' in downtown Cleveland; $465 million site set to open 2013

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Its skeleton is mostly buried, but Cuyahoga County's medical mart and convention center contains more steel than the skyscraper next door.

Key Tower -- at 947 feet, the tallest building in Ohio -- weighs in at 11,800 tons of steel. The million-square-foot convention center complex is built from nearly 12,200 tons of steel.

And if you laid the steel pieces end to end, they'd stretch 273 miles, all the way to Cincinnati.

"It's a very, very dense building because it has to be," said Dave Johnson, spokesman for developer MMPI, which is partnering with the county on the $465 million, taxpayer-financed project.

The partners on Friday celebrated the completion of the steel structure with a "topping out" ceremony on the concrete surface of the downtown Mall B.

Dignitaries and construction workers signed a white-painted steal beam, which was then hoisted into place, along with flags and a fir tree, a long-standing construction tradition signaling that the structure has reached its zenith with no loss of life.

"This community really does believe in its ability to do great things, to build great things," county Executive Ed FitzGerald said at the ceremony.

By the numbers

Cuyahoga County's medical mart and convention center contains 12,176 tons of structural steel, including 366 trusses, 29 columns and 233,653 bolts. Here is a look at how that compares with the steel in other Cleveland landmarks:

5,300 tons: Browns Stadium

11,000 tons: Progressive Field

1,800 tons: Key Tower

17,800 tons: Terminal Tower

Source: MMPI, Plain Dealer research

Med Mart and Convention Center topped outA "Topping Out" ceremony took place for the Medical Mart and Convention Center as the last piece of steel was lifted into place. The steel beam was adorned with a fir tree which symbolizes growth and good luck.

"They're the people not wearing a tie," he said, proceeding to list painters, pile drivers, pipefitters, plasterers and plumbers.

"Yeah, baby," yelled a worker from atop the connected four-story medical mart, where crews had just installed the 515th, and final, concrete facade panel.

Construction began in January 2011 on the project, which includes a showplace of medical technology on the northeast corner of St. Clair Avenue and Ontario Street, and a connected L-shaped convention center beneath the mall.

About 750,000 square feet of metal decks, enough to cover nearly 13 football fields, were incorporated into the structure.

But when the center opens next summer, pedestrians will see only a grassy slope rising toward Lake Erie, with a low, glass-fronted entrance on Lakeside Avenue. Tree-lined promenades will flank the hill, and across the street, gardens and parks will lure crowds.

That's one reason the building requires so much steel, Johnson said, so the roof can support concerts and festivals and maybe even a fountain. Cleveland's Group Plain Commission is still considering what features the mall will include.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson likened the construction process to a good party.

"When the party's good," he said, "you don't realize all the work that went into it."